There have been in wide use a changeable ink container, in recording apparatuses for instance, a stencil printer or an ink jet printer and various ink containers have been proposed.
As an above-mentioned ink container, there has been proposed an ink container, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10(1999)-29298, which has an ink discharge port provided in one end face thereof and is loaded in and removed from the recording apparatus horizontally by way of the ink discharge port.
However such an ink container is disadvantageous in that since the ink container is loaded in the ink container loading portion of the recording apparatus with its ink discharge port held horizontally, ink can remain on the inner side of the ink discharge port and/or near the ink discharge port even after the ink in the ink container is used up and the remaining ink can run from the ink container to stain the operator's hand or the recording apparatus's surroundings of the ink container loading portion when the ink container is removed from the recording apparatus. Especially, when the ink container is filled with a low viscosity ink, the remaining ink is more apt to run.
In view of the foregoing observations and description, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an ink container removable from a recording apparatus and an ink container loading structure in which ink can be prevented from running from the ink container to stain the operator's hand or the recording apparatus's surroundings of the ink container loading portion when the ink container is removed from the recording apparatus.